A: To get on the other side!
Q: Why did the Social Entrepreneur cross the road?
A: To help everybody get on the other side!
An email from a philanthropist prompted a discussion between me and my colleagues. One of them asked what could be the difference between a social entrepreneur and a philanthropist. I didn’t have an answer so I asked her what she thought about it.
Her opinion was that a philanthropist is a rich person with good intentions who is involved in acts of charity; meanwhile a social entrepreneur understands the mechanisms of one community’s social and cultural fabric. She went on to say that, in a nutshell, a philanthropist has a good heart, large means but no know-how. A social entrepreneur is someone with knowledge, but who doesn’t have the means of the philanthropist.
I agree with this assessment as I recall instances when philanthropists have adopted children from deprived communities or offered unnecessary items such as bicycles to communities lacking basic water sanitation and education.
Philanthropists need to support social entrepreneurs in their mission of empowering communities around the globe. One hand cannot clap by itself and we must work together for the benefit of the people in need.
No comments:
Post a Comment